Thursday, December 18, 2008

Rick Warren Not Satisfied with Making Abortions 'Rare'

The Christian Post reports that megachurch pastor Rick Warren may be on good terms with President-elect Barack Obama, but does not support Obama's policy of making abortions "rare." In an interview with Beliefnet Editor-in-Chief Steven Waldman, Warren said, "Of course I want to reduce the number of abortions... But to me it is kind of a charade in that people say 'We believe abortions should be safe and rare." He continued, "Don't tell me it should be rare. That's like saying on the Holocaust, 'Well, maybe we could save 20 percent of the Jewish people in Poland and Germany and get them out and we should be satisfied with that,'" Warren said. "I'm not satisfied with that. I want the Holocaust ended."

Kent comments:

I have disagreed with Rick often in the past. But - credit where credit is due - he is ‘right on the money’ this time.

I have heard this same kind of talk - from our ‘thug-from-Chicago-elect’ Obama as well as from some ‘on the other side of the aisle.’ Some have talked about abortion being dead as a political issue because there are now fewer abortions than there used to be. How 'rare' would you like murder to be?

Warren’s Holocaust analogy is good. Others come to mind also. If the sexual exploitation of children is statistically decreased, should we all just breath a great sigh of relief because the problem is ‘solved’? If drive-by shootings are less frequent this year than last, is the police force no longer necessary?

The abortion debate comes down to this: is there a ‘someone’ in the womb of a pregnant woman, or just a ‘something’? That is not a question that can be decided solely by empirical data. There are some biological matters-of-fact about it that are worthy of careful consideration. But that alone cannot decide the matter.

The identification of personhood is, in the end, a theological matter. Thus, clashes over the matter of abortion are ultimately clashes of conflicting theologies.

Our culture does not like such debates. We would like science to have the final say in all matters. But in some matters, like this one, it is simply incapable of saying all that must be said.

As long as we tolerate the intentional killing of any innocent persons, we are an uncivilized society. Growing - but not yet born - babies are persons, persons who deserve the same protection as all innocent persons. But the reasoning as to whether or not the unborn are persons is a matter that must end up in theology. And the faulty conclusion that the unborn are not persons is just as theological as the conclusion that they are.

Rick is right about this, and Barack is wrong. Rick is right because of good theology. Barack is wrong because of bad theology.

Unfortunately for the millions of unborn babies that might have been born in the next four years, Barack is soon to be President.